Ramses the Damned The Passion of Cleopatra by Anne Rice, Christopher Rice
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Was given to me through Negally. I was one of those people that actually went back and read The Mummy because I wanted to see how the two stories were connected. This review is my honest thoughts on how the story progresses.
This book continues two months after The Mummy, giving the reader enough time to realize that the biggest change is Julie’s eyes, they have been changed by a Fever or so everyone who asks her has been told but it’s the sign of immortal life. Julie and Ramses are now engaged while her almost husband Alex mourns the mysteries death of the women he met in Cairo. While some readers may complain that there are a substantial number of new characters to contend with I myself enjoyed seeing them weaved into the plot. I enjoyed reading the story and being lost in the locations and the dialogue and the agony depicted both between Ramses and Cleopatra both looking for Immortal Life and Immortal Love. I loved the character of Sybil the writer who was able write the history of Cleo while living her memories with her. I recommend this book to all die-hard fans and anyone who has read the first book and enjoyed it. This is my first read from Christopher Rice and I have to say they work together very well. If they plan on writing more please don’t wait another 30 years.
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My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/dv5sqmAPxvc

Enjoy! ( )

Actual Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars
Review: I am honestly not sure how to feel about this book. I can’t really say that I hate it, and this is mainly due to the fact that I was thoroughly confused by this book. Usually, I can deal with multiple POVs, time jumps, and location jumps, but it didn’t work with The Passion of Cleopatra. For me, at least, all the jumping around between POVS and locations (and, I think, time on occasion as well) didn't work in favor of this book and left me confused as to what was going on for the most part. And the introduction of the new characters - Sybil Parker and Dr. Theodore Dreycliff, for example - were interesting. However, it didn’t seem like they used to their full potential in the story, and instead were just thrust into the story as a “yeah, this works” kind of situation. I’m not too sure how I feel about this book. ( )

Years ago I loved Anne Rice's book The Mummy: Ramses the Damned. The story of a famed Egyptian Pharoah returning to life was chilling, yet totally engaging. It didn't hurt that the now immortal pharoah was incredibly sexy too. When I saw that this new book was coming out....bringing back Ramses and adding in Cleopatra....I was on board immediately. Oh yeah. No question....just gimme the book and I'm reading it! :)

Even though I initially read The Mummy years ago when it first came out, I was easily able to jump into this new story. There was enough background and history given in the first sections of the book to remind me what happened in the first story. The basics: Ramses is preparing to marry his fiance, but makes the poor decision to revive the mummy of Cleopatra first. Cleopatra struggles with the changes in the world and how she will fit into it....and, well......things don't go well. I"m not going to say much more because.....no spoilers from me! Read the book!

If you haven't read The Mummy...you can choose to go back and read that initial book first....or just jump in with this new one. There is plenty of background and explanation given to explain what happened to Ramses in the first novel. It's a great book....I highly recommend it to all fans of the creepy cool stories Anne Rice writes. This new novel is a collaboration with her son, Christopher.

Not sure if there will be more to this story down the road.....I just hope it doesn't take quite so long this time. I was completely stoked when I saw this book was coming out! When you read a book in 1989 and still remember how good it was in 2017......that's a good book! Keep 'em coming, Anne & Christopher! Great story! And the cover art is fantastic!

I did not realize Christopher Rice was a bestselling author. I enjoyed this book and I'm going to check out some of his thrillers! For more info on his books,check out his website: http://www.christopherricebooks.com/

Check out Anne's website as well: http://www.annerice.com/

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Knopf Doubleday via NetGalley. All opinions are entirely my own.**
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Ramses the Great, now known as Reginald Ramsey, has turned his beloved Julie Stratford and his best friend Elliot Savarell into immortals with his elixir. Ramses and Julie prepare to marry while Elliot goes on an extended vacation to make money and live how he's always wanted to live. In the meantime, Cleopatra still lives and plans revenge on Ramses and Julie. Bektaten, an ancient and enigmatic empress, fights against Saqnos, her equally ancient rival who seeks out the true elixir and his attention draws to Ramses to get it. Will Ramses and Julie get their happily ever after or will one of their foes succeed in destroying their happiness?

The Passion of Cleopatra is the long awaited sequel of The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, published in 1989. I loved this book and never dreamed there would be another. I read the first book years ago and didn't have time to reread it before starting this book. The narrative does a good job of filling in pertinent details of the first book and moving forward from there. The beginning is extremely slow and plodding, reminding about old characters and introducing all the new characters. It takes quite a while to establish everything before the story moves forward. It also has the problem that most vampire shows or films have. They are said to be so rare, but they also seem to be everywhere! This elixir has a specific composition that almost no one knows, but now there are two immortals in addition to the 3 Ramses has created and the dozens of corrupted immortals that follow Saqnos. There are 3 ancient grudges between them, 2 romances, and a lot of drama.

The elixir and its effects are interesting in addition to the newer magic. Immortals obviously live forever as young as they were when they took it. Their bodies beocme stronger and heal from any chronic problems or ailments they previously had. Their stamina is limitless and they never tire. After years, they don't require sleep anymore. The drawbacks are few. They always feel hunger, never being truly satisfied by any food. Drinks and drugs have little effect on them. And of course all the general drawbacks of immortality like outliving one's family and having to hide and change identities. We get to see people go from human to immortal. Julie and Elliot in particular no longer care about what society thinks of them. Julie is free to wear out of fashion clothes and be with Ramses. Elliot, on the other hand, lives the lifestyle he wants, taking men as lovers more freely and gambling his way to wealth across continents. He no longer has to pretend to be straight as Edwardian society expects.

Once I waded through the drama and got used to the many characters, subplots, and romances, I started to truly enjoy the story. I remembered why I liked the first book and grew to like a few of the new characters. Sibyl is the human caught up in this whole thing and with a connection to Cleopatra. It was a bit of relief to read about a normal human instead of a supernatural creature plus I liked her kind nature and confidence at the end.. Bektaten was the best character, set up to be sort of a villain and proves to be so much more. She thought more about the world as a whole and made decisions to preserve it instead of doing whatever selfish, arrogant thing she wants like Ramses. I expected the end to be a huge fight or battle, but because of Bektaten, it was much different and unexpected.

The Passion of Cleopatra isn't a perfect book, but I found it enjoyable after the awkward beginning. I did find it odd that Cleopatra was more of a peripheral character than anything despite the title. There are tropes galore and melodrama along with some surprising elements I didn't expect to find. It's a good follow up to the first story and it makes me want to reread the first book to compare the stories so many years apart. I recommend this if you liked the first one. ( )